A mum 'thought she was going to die' after she was choked by her boyfriend during a drunken attack.
The woman told the court that she believed her 'little girl was going to wake up without a mum’ when Michael Huyton, 35, started abusing her. Huyton had been drinking with his victim throughout the afternoon and evening of January 22 before the night took a turn.
After going back to her home in Wigan, where he was also staying, Huyton became ‘irritated’ by her playing loud music. Prosecution barrister James Preece told the court that the woman then went to bed and Huyton shouted that she’d ‘let him down’ and ‘ruined the night’
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Huyton continued to shout at his victim before eventually joining her upstairs to ask where his cigarettes and lighter were. He then ripped the covers off the woman to search the bed and verbally abused her calling her either a ‘b****’ or a ‘s**g’, according to Mr Preece, the MEN reports.
At around 10pm, a takeaway was delivered to the victim's house but Huyton kicked it out her hands. She said she then tried to get her work phone from the drawer but Huyton snatched it from her and threw it at a wall, damaging the plasterboard in the process.
When she started to cry on the bed and Huyton called her ‘pathetic’, he then threw the woman’s handbag across the room and her personal phone fell onto the floor. She picked it up and tried to leave the room but he grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed so hard that it snapped. He then pushed her back down a further two times when she tried to get up.
Huyton then shouted: "Pack me my stuff, I’m f*****g off. I’ve had enough of this s***." After starting to pack it, Huyton then picked the case up and emptied it, telling his victim to "pack it f*****g neater."
When she tried to leave once more, Huyton threw her to the bed, got on top of her and started to choke her. He released his grip after around five seconds and eventually let the woman leave the room when she told him she needed the toilet.
She ran to a neighbour’s front garden in her bare feet but Huyton was seen on CCTV following her, getting her in a headlock and trying to wrestle her phone away, before throwing her to the ground. Huyton went back to the house, locked the front door and then left with the keys.
One of the victim’s neighbours was a locksmith and they changed the front door lock but after realising that Huyton still had keys to the back door, she went and stayed with her mum. Police found Huyton, of Leigh Road, Atherton, in her home the following day and arrested him.
He gave a no comment interview but pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage on his first appearance before magistrates. In a victim personal statement, the woman said: "If I didn’t get out of the house I dread to think of the outcome. My little girl could have woken up without a mum.
"When he was strangling me I thought I was going to die."
She admitted that the incident was ‘out of character’ but said: "Just because it was out of character does not make it acceptable."
Defending, Adam White told the court that Huyton is a father-of-two and that a number of character references had been provided, describing him as a ‘caring, responsible family man’, ‘good father’, ‘honest’, ‘reliable’, and ‘hard-working’. He said: "There is very little he can say in the way of explanation.
"He was drinking quite heavily on the day in question and has very little recollection of what happened. He accepts fully what she’s said and the nature of the allegations. He is disgusted in himself. He has lost a relationship with someone he says he still loves."
Mr White also told the court that Huyton has no previous convictions and reiterated that he pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. Judge Tom Gilbart described the offence as “bullying thuggery” but did not impose an immediate jail term on Huyton, citing his young children, strong personal mitigation and lack of previous convictions.
Sentencing Huyton to 10 months, suspended for 18 months, Judge Gilbart said: “It is quite mystifying that a father of two children would behave in this way. It was a grossly serious thing to do - exposing her to the risk of extremely serious consequences."
He imposed a restraining order prohibiting Huyton from contacting the woman or visiting her street. Huyton will also have to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and the Building Better Relationships course.
For the next three months, he will also be subject to an electronically monitored curfew between the hours of 7pm and 6am each day.
